New York, NY, February 27, 2014 - The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, today strongly praised Washington D.C. Mayor, Vincent C. Gray following the announcement that he would be taking major steps to protect members of the District’s transgender community from discrimination in health care “by prohibiting discrimination in health insurance based on gender identity and expression.”

Statement from Executive Director, Michael Silverman:

“We applaud Mayor Gray for taking action to end health care discrimination against transgender residents of Washington, D.C. Transgender people pay the same premiums and just want the same health care that everyone else receives. Transgender people in D.C. routinely saw their medically necessary care singled out for exclusion by insurance companies even when the treatments they sought were covered for people who aren’t transgender. These exclusions were discriminatory and damaged the health of transgender D.C. residents. Mayor Gray has now declared that this must end.”